Maharashtra villagers cancel ‘ballot repoll’ plan after police deployment

A group of villagers from Maharashtra’s Malshrias assembly segment insisting on a "re-election" with ballot papers gave up their plan after police intervention on Tuesday (December 3).

A senior police official told news agency PTI they had cautioned the villagers that legal action would be initiated if they went ahead with their "polling" plan.

Police deployment 

Earlier, police were deployed in Markadwadi village to foil the “repoll” of the Assembly election after voters complained that the victory of the BJP over the NCP (SP) in their area was a fraud committed by EVMs.

Authorities in the Malshiras Assembly segment imposed prohibitory orders as villagers began to gather for the “re-polling” with ballot papers which they said would accurately reflect their choice.

The residents of the village in Solapur district had even put up banners claiming the "repoll" would be held on December 3.

‘Village result not possible’

In the Malshiras seat, NCP(SP) candidate Uttam Jankar defeated BJP's Ram Satpute by 13,147 votes in the November 20 election. But in the village, Jankar got only 843 votes against Satpute’s 1,003.

Local resident Ranjit Markad said this was an impossibility.

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"The village always supported Jankar in the past… This (BJP getting more votes) is not possible and we do not trust the EVM numbers, that is why we decided to conduct the repoll through ballot papers," he said.

Administration cracks down

The Malshiras sub-divisional magistrate on Monday said the prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more people would remain in force from December 2 to 5.

Markad claimed the village had 2,000 eligible voters and 1,900 of them exercised their franchise through EVMs.

A delegation of villagers had approached the district administration earlier seeking a repoll using ballot papers, but the request was rejected, another villager said.

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Villagers defiant

It was then the villagers decided to have a “re-election” on their own.

Jankar, the candidate who won the election but not from the village, said the administration had deployed a huge police force in the village.

Curbs on villagers

"The police have closed roads in the village and warned that cases would be filed and the polling material will be confiscated,” he said. “But once all the villagers gather, the repolling will start as the villagers are determined to take part in the polling.”

However, they later relented. 

In the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Congress-led alliance was routed by a coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.